1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatically controlled and operated conveyor system designed to be used in combination with a mobile platform wherein objects are delivered from a conveyor system on a periodic basis dependent upon the distance travelled by the mobile platform. 2. Description of the Prior Art
In the newspaper industry, delivery of newspapers to residential locations has been accomplished by manual delivery for many years. With the advent of modern society, such manual delivery has become increasingly inefficient and costly. Conventional paper route delivery service has become obsolete in all but suburban and rural residential areas, where conventional paper routes and manual delivery still predominates. However, due to the constantly increasing population, such delivery systems have become more expensive, more time consuming and, as set forth above, less efficient.
For years, the newspaper industry has been searching for a means of facilitating paper delivery utilizing mechanized means. However, there are obviously inherent problems which previously have been considered to be adequately solved only by manual delivery. The use of vehicles themselves wherein delivery personnel physically throw or deliver the paper from the vehicle to the designated location have been utilized for some time.
Naturally, attempts have been made to incorporate some type of automated system utilizing conveyors for automatically delivering and transporting the papers to the various residences. Generally, however, such systems have failed to meet all of the performance requirements required for the delivery of a plurality of papers to a plurality of different residences located in a somewhat random relationship to one another.
There are in existence, conventional computer operated or logic controlled conveyor systems capable of intermittent or precontrolled operation. The state of art of said precontrolled conveyor systems are represented in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Reed 3,383,011 and Gary 3,482,260. However, while functional and operative, such systems are not generally capable of the versatility and also of the mobile performance characteristics required by today's paper delivery system generally set forth above.
Accordingly, there is an obvious need in the paper industry for a delivery system having sufficient versatility and mobility to accurately and reliably deliver one or more papers to essentially randomly located residential locations or delivery stations.